19th Century Japanese Imperialism: Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895
Grade Level:
10th
Subject:
World History
Prepared By:
Jeanette Baybo
Cross Curriculum reading and
writing collaboration By:
Overview & Purpose: Students will learn about
19th Century Japanese Imperialism in East Asia. A
strong understanding of Japanese imperialism will
later prepare students for Japan’s role in World War
I and World War II.
English Teachers Celia Bolton, East
Bakersfield High School and Kathleen
Buse, Mira Monte High School
California Standards Addressed Social Science:
10.4 Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in at least two of
the following regions or countries…Southeast Asia, China…and the Philippines.
1. Describe the rise of industrial economies and their link to imperialism and colonialism…
2. Discuss the locations of the colonial rule of such nations as …Japan…
3. Explain imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized and the varied
immediate and long-term response by the people under colonial rule.
4. Describe the independence struggles of the colonized regions of the world, including the roles
of leaders…and the roles of ideology and religion.
California Standards Addressed reference the English Language Proficiency Assessment
Project: Listening, Reading and Writing standards are the focus and can be found at the
following website: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/englangdevstnd.pdf
Objectives
Students will read and learn an aspect of Japanese imperialism while completing a cross
curriculum lesson with the English department. The lesson will include how to write the
stand-alone paragraph, interpreting primary source visual art, and historical imperial
Japanese content.
Information
Reviewing for Previewing: Students will recall the key points of the previous unit or the
previous lesson: the Industrial Revolution or British Imperialism, depending upon
teacher’s discretion so that students are enabled to make predictions about or
connections to the topic they will be studying.
(Give and/or demonstrate
necessary information)
The teacher will lead students to brainstorm the previous unit or lesson by using a
graphic organizer. The students will write a stand-alone paragraph in their notebooks
based upon the information gathered during the brainstorming session.
Materials Needed
 Multimedia software such as
Photo Story 3, PowerPoint, or
iMovie
 Overhead projector
 Overhead transparencies
 Graphic Organizer
 Multiple colored highlighters:
green, pink, and yellow.
 LCD projector
 Individual Notebook/binder per
student
Other Resources Needed
Primary source Japanese wood cuts can be
viewed at
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/thro
wing_off_asia_02/index.html
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intr
el/trjapan.htm
Assessment
The students will write a stand-alone paragraph after the brainstorming session that
included previous curriculum taught on the Industrial Revolution and/or British
Imperialism without teacher assistance as a means to assess student writing skills and
historical content learned.
Interactive Notebook
 Students will keep their work in their
At the end of the lesson students will again write a stand-alone paragraph, but it will be
based upon the reading selections given to the students pertaining to Japanese
Imperialism; reference handout #1-B.

These two paragraphs are to be written in the student’s interactive notebook and will be
compared for an increased understanding of how to write the stand-alone paragraph and
for content.
Student’s notes and/or sketches on the various discussions and primary source visuals
and documents on Microsoft PowerPoint and the MIT Visualizing Cultures site will be
assessed along with their notebook grade.
Use of the Socratic method during various discussions will also be utilized to assess
student understanding throughout the lesson. Students will write questions and not only
answer them orally, but in written form according to teacher’s choice of questions and
his/her discretion.

own notebook
For further explanation of the interactive
notebook you may contact Teachers
Curriculum Institute (TCI)
The notebook is graded holistically
although many individual assignments
within the notebook are graded
separate from their notebook grade.
Thereby, students will complete all
assignments since they are all
important in learning content.
Activity
Responding to Visual Images: As a hook, the teacher will show a short video clip of the
bombing of Pearl Harbor and ask, "Why did the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor?" After
some discussion, the teacher will relate the importance of historical understanding of
Japan and Southeast Asia in relation to the west to further understand why an event has
occurred.
Students will view and respond to the images selected from the MIT Visualizing
Cultures site in the selection found in Throwing off Asia II: Woodblock Prints of the SinoJapanese War (1894-95). The student might quickly sketch the image, record
impressions of it, or predict what they believe is happening. The students will be
prompted to label at least three details in the image that they think might be part of this
unit and will write this in their interactive notebook.
The teacher asks: 1. What topics do you think we will explore? 2. Based upon the detail
in this image, what do you think the title of the unit might be? Students may discuss in
pairs before writing their answer in their interactive notebooks.
The teacher leads a brief discussion. Afterward, the teacher explains that they will be
studying the concept of Imperialism and particularly how it affected the Japanese and the
Chinese people. Also, the teacher will instruct students that they will also be learning
how to write a stand alone paragraph based upon their reading selections.
The teacher gives the students a reading selection created from the MIT site that
includes the written story of the Japanese woodblock prints in relation to the SinoJapanese War and Japanese imperialism.
Students are to read the student handout #1 reading selection Ch 1 Prints and
Propaganda.
The teacher will use the teacher’s handout #1 reading selection to instruct students and
demonstrate the color coding method of a stand-alone paragraph that will include the
(green) introduction/topic sentence, the (yellow) body sentences (“Big Idea”), the (pink)
body sentence (“Tell Me More”), and the (green) concluding statement. This is done by
the use of an overhead projector.
The teacher gives the students another reading selection created from the MIT site.
Students are to read student handout #2 reading selection Ch 4 Devil in the Details.
Working in pairs students are to notate in the margins next to the sentence whether it is
an introduction or whether it is a body sentence (Big Idea and Tell Me More). Next, the
student will create the concluding sentence for this selection. The teacher will ask
students to demonstrate their understanding and will have pairs come to the overhead
and color code each sentence and write their concluding sentence.
The teacher will repeat this same exercise pertaining to the student reading selections in
student handouts #3 and #4 to reinforce the writing element to be learned and the
content to be learned as well.
In conclusion: The teacher will instruct students to create their own stand alone
paragraph based upon the selected reading found in student handout #1-B.
The teacher should review all reading
previous to lesson and create more
questions according to teacher’s discretion.
Teacher discussion: European and
American concerns regarding the Japanese
and Japanese imperialism should reflect
upon readings in their textbook and included
readings in this lesson, such as Theodore
Roosevelt’s letter to Senator Knox.
Summary
Students will learn English core writing principals associated with the stand-alone
paragraph while learning Social Science core content. Students will learn how
imperialism affected colonial people in Southeast Asia and will examine the worldwide
expansion that was fueled by the industrial nations in the 1700-1900s. The demand for
natural resources and markets caused the Japanese to begin their own imperialism in
Southeast Asia as a defensive measure against the western industrialized nations,
thereby Japan became an imperial force associated with their own racism against the
Chinese. Further, this continuation of racism associated with imperialism from the varied
perspectives of the colonizers and the colonized will be explored.
Additional Notes
A map activity may also accompany this
lesson along with their reading using the
map from student handout #1-B or maps
included in your own textbook.
Vocabulary lessons would also
need to be included to further teach
the content. These terms are those
included in the reading and also
from their text book pertaining to
the imperialist unit (ie. Rudyard
Kipling “The White Man’s Burden,
racism, westernization among other
terms noted in various text books
regarding imperialism in Southeast
Asia.
This is a scaffold lesson to fit the
needs of English language learners
and/or those with low reading and
writing skills.
To address higher-level students,
the students may access the
readings directly from the MIT site
given and write essays rather than
the stand-alone paragraphs. The
letter sent to Senator Knox by
Theodore Roosevelt would be an
excellent primary source document
to use for discussion and a writing
assignment.
Resources
Website: MIT Visualizing Cultures:
Throwing off Asia (parts II)
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_01/index.html
Website: Source: Papers of Theodore Roosevelt, Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress, pp. 120-126.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/trjapan.htm
Website: Remember Pearl Harbor, National Geographic
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/
Textbook:
Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry Krieger, Phillip Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka. Modern
World History: Patterns of Interaction. Sacramento: McDougal Littell, a division of
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.
The World’s Music supplemental:
Susan Cheng. "A Single Bamboo Can Easily Bend.". McDougal Littell, 2006.
Soh Kaiko used with permission by Lyrichord Disks, Inc., New York. "Nimba.". McDougal
Littell, 2006.
Performed by the Traditional Japanese Music Ensemble of New York, Used with
permission by Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin. "Wakana.". McDougal Littell, 2006.
Additional Notes
The various woodcuts may be
chosen with teacher discretion. A
few should be chosen according to
content discussed. Also,the letter
from Theodore Roosevelt to
Senator Knox is useful to
understand the background of
American imperialism and
America’s relationship with Japan
as a growing imperial power in
Southeast Asia.
The music sited may be used on
the second day as a hook to
continue the interest and stimulate
discussion in Japanese and
Chinese cultural differences. The
first song, “A Single Bamboo Can
Easily Bend” is a folk song of
Hunan province, located in central
China and south of the Yangzi
River, is related musically to the
region’s Flower Drum Opera.” The
message of “unity is strength”
prescribed through vivid imageries
of nature and rustic illustrates the
communal and educational values
that folk songs provide. The
second song, “Nimba” is Japanese
traditional taiko folk dance music
and is often used as an
accompaniment to the shishimai
(lion dance). Stories about the
taiko-the Japanese drum-originate
in the seventh century and its
symbolism and power are attested
to in Japan’s native Shinto religion:
the ability to communicate with and
entertain the gods, to mobilize and
inspire warring armies, to chase
away insects and bring rain.
Buddhism also reveres the taiko,
referring to it as the “voice of
Buddha.”
Resources
Additional Notes continued
The third song “Wakana” is one of
the finest examples of traditional
Japanese chamber music,
composed at the beginning of the
nineteenth century by Matsuura
Kengyo in Kyoto, where the
emperor and his court resided. It
was written for voice and an
ensemble of three instruments:
sangen (a three-stringed lute), koto
(thirteen-stringed zither), and
shakuhachi (end-blown bamboo
flute).
The music is not included, but may
be purchased from the publisher.
Other music may be substituted at
teacher’s discretion.
Possible visuals to use; reference web site given for more information and also the PowerPoint included with the lesson.